5 High-Paying Careers for English Speaking Professionals in China

Many are worried that their jobs will be off-shored to India and China.

You’re right. They will. But I see this as an opportunity rather than a setback. Here’s how you can take advantage of this right now.

Before I start, I’m in China so I see things from the other side of the fence, so to speak. I’ve worked in the US, UK and most of Europe.

One of my friends based in Nashville, Tennessee, is worried about his career prospects. He’s turned 40, had a decent job as an IT developer but this has been sent to India. He was furious but now he’s just depressed. Where to start?

I see where he’s coming from and the future is indeed bleak if you’re in the US IT industry, at least in the QA, technical writing & coding. It’s not if it will happen, it’s when.

5 High-Paying Careers in China, India & Vietnam

For those who are looking at China, especially Shanghai and Shenzen, the skills most in demand are:

Finance – Shanghai plans to be the Asian hub for finance. They’ve recently opened a new Nasdaq-type stock exchange. So much money is getting plowed into its Finance Centre. You have to see it! The financial world involves interacting with bankers all over the world – and the default language of all business communications is English, which brings us to…

Communications – Chinese CEOs want to improve their English. Can you help? Chinese Marketers want to refine their campaigns. Can you help? Chinese HR Depts want to hire the right people. Can you help with the interviews? Chinese exporters want to arrange meetings in London, New York & Amsterdam. Can you be there to help?

Remember, there are more BMWs per head in Beijing than any other city on the planet! Lot’s on business to be done here.

Opportunities for self-starters

Saying that, I see many opportunities here. Let’s take a step back for a second. Many Indians, Chinese, Europeans etc made the move to the US to better their careers. I’m sure you know some.

They’re hard-working right?

They studied English (a foreign language), right?

They made the move to a new country and survived, right?

Well, so can you. Unless you’re held back by domestic commitments, which are understandable, then moving to Asia is worth considering. Maybe now it’s (possibly) the turn for US folks to move to these countries to find work. I know this is hard to swallow for many people, but well… why not?

There are so many opportunities for people in India, Singapore, China, and now Vietnam (the new low cost dev centre). And no, you don’t always need to speak the language but if you do, just learn it.